Cream Soda Tasting at Blue Sun Soda

Yesterday, my boys and I headed to another free tasting event at Blue Sun Soda Shop. It was similar to the tasting the 3 of us went to 2 months ago: they just set out some sodas and some mini-cups, and you can sample them all.

The "event banner" from Blue Sun Soda's Facebook page.

Cream Sodas: Dad's, Fiz, Iron Horse, Sioux City, North Star, Tower, and Henry Weinhard.

The "voting" table: take a bottle cap (far right) and put it in the cup that you
thought was best. They even had a roll of "I voted" stickers to put on (left foreground).

My oldest and I both agreed that Sioux City was our favorite, and my youngest voted for Dad's. I remember the North Star being very creamy (it was called "Vanilla Creme"), and I think it was Henry Weinhard's that had an odd sharpness. Fiz was decent.

Some new "kiddie cocktail" sodas made right at Blue Sun Soda.

All the flavors of "fresh" soda at the soda counter at Blue Sun Soda.

My boys and I split a fresh Root Beer. It was good! My oldest got
a tear in his eye because he said it was SOOO carbonated.

I also stocked up on root beers. I had a few sodas in the basement before this trip to Blue Sun, but only 1 of them was a root beer. I took my time looking through their root beer selection, and I picked up 7 new ones (and 6 other sodas to bring home a baker's dozen). I think I've now had (or have just purchased) EVERY root beer at Blue Sun Soda Shop! Oh no! I'll need to find some new root beers somewhere else soon...

Zevia Zero Calorie Grape

I was walking through "Fresh Thyme" in Minneapolis, and I grabbed this large can:

Brand: Zevia Zero Calorie Grape.

Origin: Los Angeles, CA.

Purchase Place: Fresh Thyme, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: Stevia Leaf Extract.

Review: Recent "grape soda" posts came to mind with my first sip: last month, I said "I don't know that I've had a 'bad' grape soda," and earlier this year, I said "I think most grape sodas can win me over pretty easily."

But this wasn't great. And it didn't win me over easily. I had to look at the label again to make sure I wasn't drinking flavored carbonated water. Because it had that "sharp/weak" taste of a La Croix. But no, it was a soda. Just a weak weak weak soda.

What's funny though is that the more I sipped it, the more I was OK with it. It wasn't a "drinkable" soda that you'd gulp down in 1 minute. But it was something I kept taking sips of over an hour, and I was OK with that. So initially (like after the first 2 sips), I would have ranked this more like a 3, but after spending some more time with it (in it's large 16 oz can), I became OK with it's weaker flavor and ranked it a bit higher.

Score: 5 out of 10.

Pork Roast a la Sprite

About a week ago, I got a small pork roast on sale. I used a half bottle of flat Sprite we'd had in our fridge for the last 2 weeks (from when my kindergartner was sick) to sweeten up the roast:

About 8 oz of Sprite, a 1.5 lb roast, some seasoning salt, and
an onion on top. Ready to cook for about 3 hours on high.

My 5-year-old ate it as fast as I could shred it!

Being that went over so well, I picked up a handful of pork roasts. A few days ago, I made 2 of those 1.5 lb roasts in the crock pot.  Again, I added Sprite (about 12 oz), seasoning salt, and 2 onions:

Just after pouring the Sprite - lots of carbonation.

After about 3 hours on high and 2 hours on low, here's the chunks of roast ready to be shredded.

I added some (but FAR from all) of the juice/Sprite mixture back in after shredding everything.

These meals go over well with my boys! If you haven't tried soda in roast, give it a shot in your slow cooker!

Grape Billy's Bubble Pop

I opened my "wacky" Billy's Soda that I picked up during our last trip to Blue Sun Soda:

Oops! Blurry. Didn't realize it until after I drank the soda...

... so here's a sharp version once the soda hit my belly.

Brand: Grape Billy's Bubble Pop

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: In case you're wondering, YES it's grape soda, but YES it's yellow. (See this post from a few months ago that shows a "Billy's Bubble Pop" selections where all the colors don't match the flavor.) Billy is a "lovable soda jerk" at Blue Sun Soda, and he kinda plays being a buffoon. So along with the "I made this" printed on the label, they're (kindly) making fun of Billy. My boys got to meet him in August of 2018, and he goofed around with them. Fun guy.

Anyway, back to this yellow grape soda: it's a pretty decent grape soda. It's hard to screw up grape pop. My wife mentioned that it was a little "cough syrup-y," but it wasn't too much for me - I've had sweeter/sugarier. It was almost SLIGHTLY overly smooth which was a bit odd, but otherwise it was quite good. I'll rate it slightly above average. I'll be eager to try more of Billy's soda (I don't have any more on hand - we'll have to make a trip back to Blue Sun Soda sometime soon).

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Soda Flavored Lip Balm

I found this package of "Lip Smacker" lip balm at Target yesterday:

I'd probably eat the Barq's one. And I don't know how good Sprite would be on my lips...

Oak Creek Barrel Aged Root Beer

I opened this the other night:

Brand: Oak Creek Barrel Aged Root Beer.

Origin: Redding, California.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: Well, I didn't realize that I reviewed this about 6 months ago. Oops. But it was a good one to crack out after not having a root beer for a while. Last time, I gave it a "9," but this time I'll give it a bit of a lower score. But it's still quite good. It's REALLY creamy, but the flavor could be a bit richer. It's very smooth and goes down down well.

Score: 8 out of 10.
 

Frostie Strawberry Watermelon Soda

I tried this last night with my boys:

Brand: Frostie Strawberry Watermelon Soda.

Origin: Detroit, MI.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was really sweet, and tasted like a "kids soda." It tasted like a liquid Jolly Rancher to me. My wife agreed, and also added that it's a bit like a "Freezie." It's decently flavored, but the flavor is soft and it goes down easy. It's not a fancy "adult" soda - just a nicely flavored soda for anyone to enjoy. 

Score: 7.5 out of 10.
 

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